ACCORDING TO EU OFFICIAL, ARMENIAN-TURKISH NORMALIZATION TO BE USEFUL FOR TURKEY’S ACCESSION TO EU

Noyan Tapan
Apr 7, 2010

YEREVAN, APRIL 7, NOYAN TAPAN. "The European Union-Armenia contractual
relations are becoming closer not gradually, but they are rising to
a new level," Commissioner for EU Enlargement and Neighborhood Policy
Stefan Fule said at the April 6 joint press conference with Armenian
Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian.

Underlining the importance of EU assistance to reforms in Armenia,
he said that the Mutual Understanding Memorandum on the National
Indicative Program for 2011-2013 to be signed with Armenia envisages
indicative allocation of 157.3 million euros under the European
partnership and neighborhood tools. By this program, at least 32
million euros will be allocated to the comperehensive program of
development of state government bodies, and at least 7 million euros
will be given to harmonization policy. The assistance will be provided
to 3 main spheres: democratic institutions and good governance, trade
and investment, and improvement and reforms of the regulation field.

Speaking about the Karabakh conflict, S. Fule noted that the not
only does the EU support the Karabakh conflict settlement within the
framework of the OSCE Minsk Group, but it also prepares a concrete
program on confidence strengthening in Nagorno Karabakh and the
whole region.

In response to a question about the belligerent statements regularly
made by Azerbaijan, S. Fule replied that any belligerent statement
does not contribute to the peaceful settlement of the process. As
for the Armenia-Turkey normalization, the EU official expressed
a high opinion about the determination of Armenia’s president and
authorities to engage in dialog with Turkey and find a way out of
the impasse. He stressed that Armenian-Turkish normalization would be
useful for Turkey’s accession to the EU because the EU attaches great
importance to good-neighborly relations with neigboring countries.

When responding to a reporter’s question, E. Nalbandian underlined
that there was no change in the Armenian position on the issue of
recognizing the status of Nagorno Karabakh.

"We have repeatedly stated, and not only we – the Co-Chairs also
realize that the major issue of the Karabakh problem solution
is the recognition and exercise of Karabakh people’s right to
self-determination. In line with the indicated context, the statement
of Armenian President also speaks of that. If this major issue is
solved, it will be easier to discuss the other issues and to find
decisions and solutions," the foreign minister said.

To recap, in an interview with Der Spiegel, Serzh Sargsyan said that
if Azerbaijan recognizes the independence of Nagorno Karabakh, it
will become possible to solve the Karabakh problem within a few hours.